Saturday, August 20, 2011

Sleeping with the moon

A week ago today a crazy storm blew through town and in a matter of minutes had wiped out the power in a large portion of town. I am not known to be very flexible when some of my comforts are taken away but in the 18 hours that our power was out, I managed to hold it together. Many of my friends did not regain theirs until days later. I would not have been smiling.

What helped me a lot was that it was not hot out. The streets (and sidewalks) were virtually empty, so it was quiet enough and cool enough to throw open the windows. Many of us still sat out on our porches until late, talking back and forth in the dark. What really made it lovely was a huge bright full moon.

In an urban neighborhood, there’s really not much true darkness or true quiet, but for one night our street was hushed with no air conditioners running, no stereos beating rhythms, no tv’s or radios playing at all. All that quiet and that big full moon made the night almost magical. As I was falling asleep, I remembered the picture (above) that I had seen once and I thought to myself that indeed I did feel like I was sleeping with the moon right beside me.

I was sitting on my porch the next afternoon when the lights came back on- security alarms went off and a/c units ground into gear and life as usual came back. I checked that night, and that big full moon was still there- but with lots of competition from all of the lights of the city. I can’t say I was disappointed to get my power back - there was laundry to be done and email to check……..but I will long remember that bright moon on that quiet night.